


Small Packages

by Werepirechick



Series: B-team is the Best Team [6]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Again, Badass Mikey, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Outer Space, Siblings, Team Dynamics, don't underestimate him, going out for drinks is harder than expected, he's just as if not more skilled than everyone in the room at any given time, in which mikey saves everyone's collective asses with the power of being an underdog, respect him or regret it, respect the goofball, set during the space arc, that's to be expected, they got arrested, though by now, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 17:25:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9248009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werepirechick/pseuds/Werepirechick
Summary: Sometimes, people seem to forget that Mikey is just as much a ninja as his older brothers.Sometimes, they need a quick reminder of that.Sometimes, they all get arrested, and the opportunity for said reminder is presented.(Sometimes, Donnie wonders why they try to go out for drinks at all.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Mikey is just as much a badass as his siblings, and I am 300% DONE with people infantilizing him.
> 
> Stop it. It's disrespectful to him, and just... kinda really gross too.

 

 

“We go out for drinks, and _this_ happens,” Donnie muttered irritably, shifting the ropes tied around his wrists. “And they weren’t even alcoholic this time.”

“In Leo and Raph’s and my own defense-” April said, also tugging at her bound wrists. “-none of us knew that we weren’t supposed to climb that particular statue. And it’s you, Casey, and Mikey who wandered off; we were just trying to find you!”

“Wonderful job of that. You found us, and then we all got arrested,” Donnie said dryly.

“I said we were sorry!”

“You did, they didn’t,” Donnie nodded at his older brothers, who were slumped against one another unconscious. Casey and Mikey were still conscious, for all the good that did; the two of them also struggling against the rough rope that they’d all been trussed up with.

Around them, the majority of the village they’d stopped down in was gathered. In hindsight, it may not have been the best idea to pick a planet that still had tribal rule, _and_ warrior code. Donnie didn’t like the look of blades swinging from the aliens’ waists, or the sizable masses of their arms.

Earlier, he’d thought it was all very fascinating. A bipedal species with two sets of arms, claw like nails, and fierce looking tusks jutted from their mouths. A genetic marvel from where he came. They also resembled _‘World of Warcraft’_ characters, and never let it be said Donnie wasn’t interested in the gaming community, for all its grievous errors and rampant biasness.

Though now, as the chief of the village called to order her assembled followers, they seemed more intimidating than fascinating.

The chief- as they’d all figured out from the numerous tattoos along her(?) arms and the respect given to her(?) by the other warriors- was probably the oldest individual in the village, thick streaks of grey through her(?) short hair and cracked tusks.

Donnie was assuming she was a she, mostly based on what seemed to be breasts on her chest; but he could be wrong. The gender binary he’d known his whole life was mostly useless in space, seeing as some species didn’t have genders at all.

He itched to ask questions about that, maybe document the physical attributes of this new race they’d encountered.

Though, as the chieftain called her people to order and ushered in quiet, Donnie remembered he’d have to survive long enough to do that.

They also had a deadline. If they didn’t get out of this mess in under an hour, they’d be stuck planet-side for another day. The planet they had landed on, for rest and relaxation, happened to be beside a particularly nasty solar storm. Like clockwork, it would become larger at the sun’s setting, and block safe space travel for the rest of the night.

Donnie really, really didn’t want to stay the night here. From the way the warriors circled their group, he thought they might not make through the evening after their trial.

“I still blame you and my brothers,” He said, staring up at the chieftain as she approached.

April elbowed him hard in the side, but otherwise remained silent.

The chieftain opened her mouth, and started gesturing at them as she talked. The village warriors listened attentively as she spoke, echoing with hollers and something suspiciously like war cries in the appropriate spots.

There was a few seconds difference between what words came from the aliens, and the one’s Donnie’s translator relayed in English. There were also pauses in the dialogue, where words or phrases should have been but weren’t. Donnie supposed that even space age technology could fail sometimes, since the vastness of the universe meant it was near impossible to accurately document _all_ languages. That was just unrealistic to expect.

Donnie got enough of the gist though, same as his family around him.

One of them would have to fight, and in exchange, they would earn their freedom. That was the price of having desecrated a sacred statue.

Brilliant.

“What sort of law order is this?” Donnie muttered under the roaring cheers of the crowd.

“An _awesome one,”_ Casey said breathily.

Donnie didn’t see it, but he heard April elbow Casey too.

The chieftain stepped towards them, towering well above their group of six. Even if Donnie had been standing, he probably would have come up to only her chin. And she wasn’t even the tallest member of the village. Some of the warriors were probably over seven feet tall.

She pointed her thick staff at them, the club like head hovering right in front of Donnie’s thankfully flat nose. She said something in her deep rumbling voice, and Donnie’s translator helpfully relayed what she was saying.

_Do you accept our terms?_

“Uh- yes. Yes we accept your terms of agreement,” Donnie managed, eyeing the heavy metal staff in front of him. He breathed a sigh of relief as the staff was moved away, the chieftain addressing her people again.

“Shouldn’t we ask Leo about this first?” April questioned.

“How? He’s unconscious.”

“Right. Fair enough. So who’s going to fight?”

Donnie opened his mouth to reply, but he cut off as the crowd around them cheered thunderously. A figure stepped into the clearing, and raised their four arms into the air; inciting an even louder round of cheers.

The individual- who Donnie couldn’t identify the gender of at all- was easily the biggest warrior they’d seen so far. Eight feet, good god. Donnie reckoned they were eight feet tall, and made of pure muscle.

Four swords longer than Donnie’s arms were strapped across their back, and Donnie had no doubt that the individual could wield them without problem. The yellowed tusks jutting from their lips were cracked on one side, and there seemed to be blood staining the edges. Not a good sign.

The alien opened their mouth, showing even more incisors, and gave a bone rattling bellow.

Donnie closed his eyes, and sighed deeply.

This only ever seemed to happen when they went out for drinks. Maybe it was time to stop doing that.

“Okay, so,” April said in a tight voice. “Fuck that. I’m good, but I’m not _that_ good.”

“I’m not fighting either, just saying that now,” Donnie said, eyeing the biceps the size of his head. He valued his continued semi-good health, thank you very much.

“I’ll do it,” Casey spoke up.

“No you won’t,” Donnie and April chorused in flat tones.

“I could so take them.”

“No you couldn’t,” Donnie and April said in even flatter tones.

While Casey grumbled to April, Donnie sighed again, and leaned around his two human friends to look at his only conscious sibling. “Alright. Mikey? You’re up.”

“Cool,” Mikey replied, nodding nonchalantly. “I’m down for that.”

April whipped her head around, looking at Donnie with wide eyes. “What?? Donnie, wait, why are you-”

“He’s got it, don’t worry,” Donnie said, nodding at the closest villagers to untie Mikey. “Yeah, we nominate my brother. He’s the annoyingly loud one- wait no not that one, that’s Casey. There you go. That’s him.”

_“Seriously-? He’s not even half that guy’s height-”_

_“-why does Mikey get to fight? I wanted to fight, that’s not fair-”_

Donnie missed the rest of April’s concerns and Casey’s complaints, due to the loudest round of cheering yet; as Mikey stepped into the unofficial fighting ring with the warrior alien.

"Keep it short, and make it fast,” Donnie reminded his brother, watching him bend into a series of warm up stretches straight from the eighties. “The professor said we had to be back to the ship in under an hour, or we'll be stuck here another day."

"I know I know I know- I _got_ this Dee, I swear," Mikey replied, still stretching, and completely ignoring the eight foot alien warrior in front of him. Mikey’s opponent drew their swords, and swung their weapons through the air in a show of their deadliness. The four swords glinted in the waning daylight, each blade about as wide as Mikey’s arms.

"We're all going to die." April muttered grimly, still ignoring Casey’s whining about not being allowed to fight. “Or go to jail, and have to break out. _Again.”_

Donnie felt Leo shift beside him, tugging on the joint rope cuffs between them all, and he looked over to see his big brothers finally regaining consciousness.

“Oh good, you finally woke up,” He said, watching Leo and Raph blink blearily. “I was beginning to think I’d need a bucket of water. They didn’t hit you _that_ hard, did they?’

“I- wha-?” Leo slurred, his mask slightly out of place and a dark bruise forming on his face. “Where-?”

“Long story short: you got us arrested, we’re under trial by combat right now, and Mikey’s working on getting us off the hook.”

“ _WHAT?!”_ Raph shouted, jerking up from his slump.

“Too late to stop it now. Once someone chooses to fight, neither opponent can back out unless they admit defeat. Or pass out. Or die,” Donnie explained helpfully. “They said so when she-” He nodded at the chieftain watching Mikey and her warrior warm up. “-was explaining things.”

“Who’s idea was it choose _Mikey?!”_ Leo exclaimed in horror, staring at their youngest brother as he kept blithely warming up.

“Mine. It was the best option.”

“ _What on earth were you thinking?! There’s no way-”_

“Mikey! MIKEY! GET BACK HERE AND SWITCH WITH ME!” Raph yelled, struggling against the rope tying them all together. _“MIKEY!!”_

“ _Oh my god-_ Raph, I _got this!”_ Mikey sighed, looking over his shoulder at them all. “I _totally. got this.”_

A gong rang out, sounding the beginning of the fight, and Leo and Raph’s further exclaimed protests were drowned out.

An alien guard approached Mikey, handing him his formerly confiscated nunchucks. They’d all left their space weaponry on the ship, exchanging them for their earth ones, in an attempt to blend in with the locals. The planet was nearly identical to earth atmosphere-wise too, so no breathing apparatuses necessary. They’d only kept their translators.

As a result, Mikey calmly swinging his nunchucks in the face of four broadswords made for a comically ill-matched sight.

The cheers of the crowd muted Donnie’s brothers’ protests, and he settled in to ignore them while Mikey took care of business.

The eight foot titan gave a battle roar, and charged Donnie’s little brother; swinging all four deadly swords at him, and-

Mikey wasn’t there to be chopped into pieces.

The alien withdrew their swords from the dirt, looking confusedly at the spot Mikey had vanished from. They turned in a circle, eliciting laughter from the crowd of villagers, and still couldn’t find the vanished mutant.

Then-

Mikey reappeared with a whoop- coming back into existence seemingly from nowhere- and caught his opponent across the temple with his nunchaku.

The alien reeled in shock, then recovered, and swung at Mikey again with a snarl.

Mikey slipped under the four simultaneous swings without trouble, and popped up again with a cheeky grin.

“That all you got?” He asked, bouncing from foot to foot jauntily.

The alien frowned, and gave another battle cry as they tried once more to slice Mikey to pieces.

While Leo and Raph, plus April and Casey, all fussed and protested Mikey’s involvement in the fight- Donnie waited calmly for his brother to stop messing around.

Mikey ducked and weaved around the swords aimed at him, practically dancing through the battle. The crowd cheered louder, as Mikey slipped underneath a flurry of jabs to deliver a nerve attack to the alien’s side.

The alien howled, their left secondary arm going limp and dropping its sword. They bared their tusks, and swung again at Mikey with their remaining three arms, missing by inches as Mikey coolly avoided the strikes.

 _“Ooh shit_ , you almost had me that time,” Mikey taunted, bouncing away again. “C’mon, I know you can do it. Hit me again- or I guess, hit me for the first time, ha ha.”

The next few minutes turned into a blur- Mikey weaving and dancing around the enormous alien warrior, unbothered as anything as three huge swords were swung at him again and again. A side step here, and a well-timed splits there- Mikey avoided every attack sent at him, and laughed the whole while.

He hadn’t even delivered any other attacks, beyond the original temple scuff and the nerve attack.

The swords scored the dirt ground, leaving long gashes where Mikey had formerly been. The alien warrior kept at it, despite having not landed a single blow yet. In the end of day lighting, the three remaining swords reflected Mikey’s wide grin as he skimmed past them over and over.

Eventually, Mikey slipped through the defenses of the alien- disappearing and reappearing again from thin air- and delivered a second nerve attack.

Down two arms- one left, one right- the towering warrior looked much less intimidating, what with two limbs hanging dead from their sides.

The alien seemed to be getting desperate, egged on by the bloodlust of the crowd, and dove in with their remaining swords to stab again at Mikey.

Mikey- without even using his nunchucks- diverted the attack away from him, and grasped the elbow joint of the alien.

Donnie didn’t wince, but his other family members did, as Mikey shattered the arm joint with his knee.

The alien howled in pain, and dropped the sword held by that now broken arm. They knelt heavily, releasing their only remaining sword to clutch their arm.

Mikey snaked around the kneeling alien, and with fluid grace, joined his weapons together to form his kusarigama as he straddled the alien’s broad back.

Mikey looped his chains around the alien’s neck, and before they could react further than a dismayed exclamation, started choking them.

He held the alien in that chokehold, looking unruffled and almost bored as they scrabbled uselessly against the chains, until the giant slumped heavily to the side and passed out.

The soft thud of the collapsed alien settled a hush on the crowd. Then-

The villagers went wild.

Mikey released them, winding his chains up his arms as he dropped off the alien’s back. At the thunderous applause and cheers surrounding them all, he gave a sweeping bow to the crowd, and basked in the glory of his opponent’s defeat.

Mikey popped his head up, still bowed over, and grinned at Donnie. “Fast enough for you, Dee?”

"You were just playing with them for the last two minutes of that,” Donnie replied in a dry tone, rolling his eyes. “Maybe more.”

 _"Awww,_ you caught me," Mikey said with a fake pout.

"Just have them untie us already; we have actual work to do, instead of you teasing people."

"Pft, yeah okay, Mr. Grumpy-Shell."

While Mikey was swarmed by individuals twice and three times his size, a couple of the guards that had been watching Donnie and his family came over to untie them all.

Donnie glanced at his fellow captives, and found every one of them gaping with surprise. He raised and eye ridge at them all. "What? We all know Mikey's got the best skills out of all of us, he just never uses them. Did you think he just sat around watching TV all day?"

“I- well- uh-” Leo stuttered.

“-kind of??” Raph finished for their brother, April and Casey nodding along jerkily.

"Hm, you obviously haven't been around for our _‘danger room’_ sessions then."

“Your _what?”_ Leo asked in a worried tone, finally getting over his speechlessness.

“Like from the X-men? He begged me until I agreed to create a simulation for him in the holodeck,” Donnie shrugged out of his loosened ropes, rubbing his slightly sore wrists. “It’s become a bit of a competition lately. To see if I can make a simulation he can’t beat.”

“What the fuck,” Raph muttered in disbelief, remaining on the ground despite their bonds being gone.

Donnie looked at his brothers- both of them seeming thoroughly beaten despite not having fought at all- and shook his head. Honestly, no faith from either of them.

_“I still say I could’ve taken ‘em.”_

_“Casey, no you couldn’t have.”_

_“Says you, Red.”_

_“Yes says me, apparently your self-preservation.”_

Mikey was still shaking hands with the villagers, who all seemed very accepting of him now that he’d proven his strength. Though his hand was engulfed each time, the villagers seemed happily surprised by the grip Mikey had despite his small size.

The defeated warrior was carted off, probably by a collection of their family and a doctor. They’d likely be well cared for, after facing such a worthy opponent. And in the middle of all the chaos; the chieftain of the village stood alone, looking satisfied with how things had played out.

An interesting perspective, but Donnie would take it; since it meant they got to leave with their heads still attached and their hearts still beating. Also, no escape from space jail; part four in an ongoing series.

Donnie got up, dusting himself off, and went to pull Mikey from his adoring fans. They still had to get back to the ship, after all.

Their family trailed after them as they left, Leo and Raph still in shock and Casey and April bickering back and forth about the fight.

Mikey grinned at Donnie, and elicited another eye roll when he asked if they’d gotten any video of his sweet take down.

All in all, not the weirdest outing they’d had so far on their space quest. Not even close.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> QUICK REMINDER TO EVERYONE:
> 
> Mikey is very much referenced to have a ton of hidden potential, and frequently used as an example for inherent natural talent with martial arts. Or, he used to be, back in the good old days of season one.
> 
> Though there was a part that really stood out to me, a while after Vision Quest, where Mikey snuck up on Leo (WHILE LEO WAS IN FULL MYSTIC NINJA MODE AT THAT) and grabbed him by the face, all without Leo ever even starting to sense he was that close. If Mikey were an enemy ninja, Leo's ass would have been nine kinds of dead. (And that's just one example, there's a lot more but I can't think of them off the top of my head.)
> 
> Mikey is smart in ways his family doesn't understand, or even bother to try and understand. He's terrifyingly good at fighting, and can adapt to pretty much any situation he wants to. He's just put down so often, it's stifling his potential, and without anyone trying to push him to grow, he's been squandering that potential. No one fucking pays attention to the fact that their youngest team member could possibly grow up to be an Assassin Level Ninja, IF ONLY SOMEONE WOULD FUCKING SPEND THE TIME HELPING HIM COPE AROUND HIS TWITCHINESS AND PUT THE EFFORT INTO ACTUALLY TEACHING HIM SHIT.
> 
> I get really heated over this, especially since 90% of the fandom treats him like a precious child or the weakest link in the team.  
> Stop it. He's just as strong and valuable as his brothers, and I will champion his significant ability a ninja for the rest of my life. He's smol, but powerful, alright?
> 
> (I'm not saying he doesn't screw up, because he does, but don't all the brothers do that? Give the kid a chance to show more than just his goofball side, he's probably three times as deadly and ruthless as his brothers.)
> 
> ((I could write an essay on the subject of Mikey's character in 2012. I really really could. This will have to do for now though, oh well.))
> 
> (((thanks for reading)))


End file.
